Dreaming of Cheers (Standing Up to Life Book 3)

Chapter 5:

MY ALARM BLARED before I knew it, and I dragged myself out of bed. I decided that I was going be excited about today – otherwise I would only have a miserable time. So, I showered quickly and set about getting myself dressed for the day. Even though I had nothing to speak of in the chest area I still put on a sports bra first before putting on the top shell.

The top shell that we had for the long sleeve version was more like a sweater than anything else. The fabric kind of itched a bit as I put it on, but I just ignored it – I'd be stuck wearing this all day, so it wasn't worth thinking about. After getting my hair done, I put on a little bit of makeup. My mom wasn't really pleased with me using makeup at all – but it was a special day with everything going on. Plus, she was already gone! I smiled a bit at that thought. She always left for work before I was even up – so I could probably get away with a lot of things since she wasn't there.

I wouldn't though of course. Knowing my luck, I'd get busted somehow. Besides, there was always my 'other' mom to consider. Melanie wasn't quite as against makeup as my mom, but she definitely wouldn't let me get away with a lot of stuff either. I sighed. My life seemed to be complicated every way you looked at it. Once I was satisfied with how I looked I carefully pulled up the pair of nylon warm-up pants I had over the top of my skirt. I had to be careful not to get it bunched up, but it went over fairly easily.

I somehow managed to be out of the bathroom ten minutes earlier than normal, even though I had done more to get ready than I did most days... go figure. I went into the kitchen and heated up some bacon my mom had already cooked and had some toast with it. The news was on in the kitchen already and I just sort of sat down and watched it. Just before I had to go wait for Amy's mom outside, they mentioned that we would be having our homecoming parade, and they would have pictures later this evening from the day.

I'd been on TV before for a couple things this year, not least of which was to try and fight for my right to be myself, but I still got kind of excited thinking about the fact that I might be able to appear in my cheer uniform. Before I could think about that though I heard a door slam outside and knew that must be Amy getting out of the car to come get me.

I ran into the living room, threw on the jacket that went with our warm-ups, picked up my backpack, cheer bag, and all of the other cheer stuff I needed before opening the door and heading out to the car with her.

"Are you ready for the big day?" Her mom asked me as I slid in.

"I think it'll be fun," I told her while forcing myself not to think about how uncertain I felt about the day.

"It will be Tiffany. I wish I could go watch the two of you at the dance... but Amy threatened to not talk to me for a week so I decided I could live without it," she said jokingly. I saw Amy stick her tongue out at her mother and I giggled a little. It was always reassuring to me that I wasn't the only girl that was abused by her parents like this.

As we arrived at school, I noticed that a lot of the girls had dressed a little bit nicer. Nikki was even wearing a skirt to school that day with a really pretty blouse. Our last class before the dance was choir. Kristina, Amy, and I both took our warm-ups off in the bathroom during the class. When we finished getting settled, I took my bags and stuff over to the band hall so that I wouldn't have to worry about it during the dance.

"Teachers, please dismiss the students who are buying out for the dance at this time." Mrs. Henry called over the intercom.

Kristina, Amy and I all jumped up from the riser where we were sitting faster than anyone else. We gave our money to Ms. Beecher and walked the short distance to the gym where we could already hear the music blaring. The three of us joined up with the rest of our friends in one corner of the gym and began moving to the music.